Lean & 5S's in Construction - Aud 2011

Lean & 5S's in Construction - Aug 2011
Newsletter #73 August 2011

This e-newsletter is written by Dennis Sowards to share ideas on the 5S’s and Lean practices especially as they are applied in construction. If you have ideas or lessons learned to share please contact me.

****************The 2011 Muda Walk for a Month is Coming
The Fifth Annual Muda Walk for a Month is coming this September.

A basic principle of Lean is “Go and See”. We all know this, but don’t practice it enough. The Muda Walk for a Monthis a unique opportunity to do put “Go & See” into practice. During September I will email participants the weekly theme to use while doing a Muda (waste) walk in their company. The walk may be at a job site, in the shop, office or even a service truck. During the walk, participants will look for ways to eliminate waste and improve operations. The Muda Walkchallenge is to do a walk at least one hour a week and best if it is one hour each day. That may sound like a hard commitment to make, but those who invested the time in past years have reaped useful rewards. I do ask that participants log problems and improvements, and share them with me at the end of the month.

Read about Muda walks in Contractor Magazine - http://contractormag.com/columns/sowards/muda_walk_find/index.html

For more details on Muda walks see my blog at: http://mudawalkforamonth.blogspot.com/

This is a free service, but participants must sign up by Aug 26, 2011. The first week of the Muda walk will start on Sept 1, 2011. To register, just email your request to dennis@YourQSS.com

Help Stamp Out Muda – Go and SEE the Waste

**************** Lean for the Birds
Boeing helped the Seattle Zoo apply Lean techniques to redesign the penguin exhibit. It was finished 12 months ahead of schedule and saved $100,000 from the cost estimate. It also helps the zoo staff save 90 minutes a day in feeding and cleaning the exhibit.

Read it at: http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2009/august/i_ca01.pdf

************** Lean Works in Tenant Improvement Work
“As one way to cope with the challenging economy, many owners/facility managers are doing tenant improvements (TI) and facility upgrades. Contractors, who normally do not perform TI, are now competing in the TI market. Lean construction has proven itself valuable in large projects and also works in small projects, but in different ways.

“TI differs from major projects not just in scope and size, but in the planning horizon, change orders, work structure and closeouts. The factors enter into how Lean is best applied in TI. Probably the biggest factor in these type of jobs is the speed of the work, planning must be done in shorter periods and closer to the start date. The work itself must be completed often in days, not weeks or months, and closing out the projects is also on a short fuse.”

Read the rest of this article in the August Issue of Contractor Magazine.
http://contractormag.com/columns/sowards/lean-works-ti-0811/

************** Lean Training on an even leaner Budget
Many contractors say they want to do Lean but cannot afford the cost of start-up. This may seem strange to some as starting Lean does not require a capital investment nor specialized software applications and you don’t even need a smart phone. But it does require training. Those leading and doing Lean need to know what it is and how to do it. This can be expensive if one or more company leaders go to a Lean bootcamp type training that lasts a week or two. A larger expense would be the cost of their paid time for training all employees for even a four-hour Lean overview even if taught by in-house staff. Here are some alternative ways to educate you and your employees on Lean:

Do a book club – pick a book and have everyone read a chapter a week or month then discuss the key ideas. Books to consider are:
- The Toyota Wayby Jeffrey Liker
- Gemba Kaizenby Masaaki Imai
- Lean Thinkingby James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones,

Work with a supplier or customer to attend their internal training course. Many companies are doing Lean and while what they emphasize may not completely fit construction, the principles and most of the basic tools will.

Participate in local Lean community activities. There are many local associations that sponsor Lean events, some charge for dinner programs or training course but many also have free events including site visits.

If these approaches don’t work for your company or are not fast enough to meet your needs, I can deliver the Lean training that is customized to construction company’s language and ways.

**************** Loading Trucks the Grunau Way
Check out this great employee idea on the Grunau Mechanical Lean newsletter:
http://www.grunau.com/upload/Lean%20Line%202011-8-2%20Shipment%20Truck%20Pre-Planning.pdf

****************The Last Planner System®
Ways for Getting Reliable promises from others:
- Stay involved with people who make promises to you
- Offer help in meeting the promises
- Be open to renegotiating conditions of the promise
- Let your performers know at the first opportunity when your requirements change, especially when you no longer need them to perform the task or the deadline has changed
- Show your appreciation for their effort and always thank them for producing the result
- Keep your own promises

* Last Planner Systemis a trademark of the Lean Construction Institute.

**************** Learning Opportunities
You may be interested in attending one of these training seminars:

Sept. 22, 2011 - Getting to the Root Cause: Real Problem Solving - Sponsor – P.I.P.I. & 469 JAC – Phoenix, AZ - contact Cathy Mayeux at cmayeux@pipetrust.org for details.

Sept. 26, 2011 – Industrial Fab Productivity – Breakthrough Performance through Lean Practices - SMACNA 2011 National Convention - Colorado Springs, CO. Details at http://www.smacna.org/events/annualconvention/

Oct. 20, 2011 – Lean Overview -Tools to be Lean – Webinar sponsored by AGA. Details to follow.

Oct. 20, 2011 - Designing and Achieving World-Class Performance in Construction- Sponsor – P.I.P.I. & 469 JAC – Phoenix, AZ - contact Cathy Mayeux at cmayeux@pipetrust.org for details.

Contact Dennis if you are interested in having a customized workshop specific to your company’s needs.

Other Lean Construction Learning Opportunities:
Aug 18, 2011 - The Value-Waste Proposition, hosted by the LCI Dallas – Ft Worth Chapter - Irving, TX. Registration details are at: http://lci-dfw-08-18-2011.eventbrite.com

Aug 24, 2011- LCI Full Day Intro - Target Value Design- Hebron, OH - Registration details are at: http://lci-intro-08-24-2011.eventbrite.com

Aug 31, 2011 - Half Day Intro to Lean Project Delivery– LCI Nor Cal Chapter
Fairfield, CA - Registration details are at: http://lci-nor-cal-intro-08-31-2011.eventbrite.com This event will be followed by the LCI Nor Cal CoP Combined Branches>> Lean Design, Lean Construction and IFC/BIM in Norwegian AEC Industry, Registration details are at: http://lci-nor-cal-08-31-2011.eventbrite.com

Sept 14, 2011 - 2nd Annual CURT/LCI Summit, "Playing the Game: Fielding a Lean Construction Team,"Amherst, NY. To register and to review the full agenda visit: http: http://www.curt.org/Events.aspx

Sept 14, 2011- A Kaizen Event on Tool Install Design at Intel – Sponsor: LCI Arizona Chapter – Chandler AZ. Register at: http://lci-arizona-09-14-2011.eventbrite.com

Sept. 21 – 24 - AGC IPD and Lean Construction Building Conference- San Antonio, TX. For more details and registration: http://www.agc.org/cs/events/conferences/agc_ipd_lean_building_conference_september_2011

Sept 23, 2011 - Tour of Douglas Steel Plant, Sponsor LCI Michigan Chapter Lansing, MI - Registration details are at: http://lci-michigan-09-23-2011.eventbrite.com

Oct. 4-7, 2011 - 13th Annual Lean Construction Congress, Pasadena, CA
Registration details are at: http://lci-congress-10-2011.eventbrite.com

Oct. 19, 2011 – Microscopic Lean – applying Lean to small projects - Sponsor: LCI Arizona Chapter – Phoenix AZ. More details are coming.

***************** A Quick Thought
“When change conflicts with culture, culture always wins. So, you can either change the culture, change the change or prepare to fail.”
- Robert D. Gilbreath

For more information about Lean applications to construction and especially the 5S’s contact Dennis Sowards at his office at 480-835-1185 or his cell at 602-740-7271 or at his web site: www.YourQSS.com

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